The Broncos have some marquee players. They have what cornerback Drayton Florence has called "no doubt, no question, first-ballot Hall of Famers" in Peyton Manning and Champ Bailey.

They have some Pro Bowl players, some former college All Americans.

But in making the rounds through the league this week, two different personnel folks, from two different teams, offered up the same theory about how things will, or won't, go for the Broncos this season.

And basically it all comes down to the five guys in front of Manning, the guys most folks outside of Denver would have a hard time naming. It comes down to a team that made it work last season with Tim Tebow at quarterback, running the read option, but now has to make another drastic transition up front.

Denver ended up leading the NFL in rushing in 2011. The team won the AFC West at 8-8 and won a playoff game before the bill came due in a 45-10 loss in New England in the divisional round.

But from a football perspective, Tebow was difficult to block for in the passing game. The linemen in front of him never quite knew where Tebow was going when he pulled the ball down, sometimes before the receivers had even reached the break in their routes.

It certainly made Tebow tough to defend at times. But it also made it tough for the linemen in front of him to keep the defenders out of the backfield. Protection schemes are built for the quarterback to be in a given spot. And if the quarterback leaves that spot too often, too soon, the linemen end up pushing the pass rushers toward the scrambling quarterback rather than away from him.

It's why left tackle Ryan Clady was flagged for 11 holding penalties last season — four were declined — and still received enough votes from his peers to be an injury replacement in the Pro Bowl.

It's also why, despite Tebow's obvious running abilities, he was still one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the league. Tebow was sacked 33 times last season and finished the year with just 271 pass attempts — or one sack for every 8.2 attempts.

Tim Tebow was sacked 33 times last season as a Broncos quarterback. (Denver Post file photo)

Eleven quarterbacks were sacked more than Tebow, but all 11 attempted between 76 and 392 more passes than Tebow.

The Broncos dilemma up front is different this season. Manning is a traditional pocket passer, who will not stray from that area too often. That means every protection package the Broncos play up front will have one goal in mind: keep the area in front of Manning clean, so he has room to step up and avoid outside pressure while still delivering the ball.

Teams that have succeeded through the years in pressuring Manning at all — and there aren't many — have often done it between the guards, making those middle three spots in the offensive line the hot zone.

Photos: Broncos

And personnel people who looked at the Broncos' first two preseason games still see some work to be done there, especially since most defenses hold back the good stuff — stunts, games and overloads — until the regular season begins.

The Broncos also open the season against one of the more aggressive blitz packages in the league in the Steelers.

Manning has not been sacked in his seven offensive series in the preseason, a testament to his ability to see the pressure and get rid of the ball to go with the effort up front to this point. Manning has been pressured in practice at times, especially when the first-team defense gets a chance and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has turned up the heat.

Coach John Fox was asked Thursday about the protection so far, and he said:

"You're concerned about protection all the time. There's old-school people like myself who think there are only three things that are passable and that's protection, protection, protection. I don't think you're ever really satisfied — I'm not freaking out where the sky is falling my any stretch."

Not all kids who play baseball are uniformed with fancy script across their chests, traveling to $1,000 instructional camps and drilled how to properly hit the cut-off man. Some kids just play to play.